Q & R: Debate? Dialogue?
Here’s the Q:
Quick question: way back when you were at CRCC, you organized a debate between people who were pro-going into Iraq and against. You moderated the panel and had a systematic series of steps – I remember asking people for the strength of their opponents’ argument and the weakness of their own at some point.
Is this approach described somewhere? Named?
I’m thinking of using something similar at work of all places. I hope you’ll remember.
Here’s the R:
Actually, I think it was a “faith in politics forum” around a presidential election – in 2004? I think it was something like, “Here’s why I as a Christian support John Kerry” and “Here’s why I as a Christian support George W. Bush.” I remember my pastoral goal was to create a space in our congregation for Christians to model civil discourse because, as you know, we had people who were passionate participants in diverse political parties.
I don’t think there’s a formal description of that method … it’s something I developed way back when I was an English teacher to help people understand and develop arguments. The basic idea went like this:
1. Allow an advocate to speak (time limited)
2. Invite others to rephrase key ideas in their own words, with a brief response by original speaker. (Yes, that’s what I was saying…. No, that’s not it…. That’s partially what I was saying.)
3. Invite respondents to find points or values of agreement/common ground (only).
4. Invite respondents to express points of disagreement/difference.
5. Repeat process (1-4) with next advocate, always seeking fair restatement and agreement before disagreement.
6. Invite speakers to summarize strengths of their opponents’ arguments and weaknesses of their own.
7. Invite speakers to summarize the main strength of their own argument.
Most people pit their strengths against their opponents’ weaknesses, ignoring their weaknesses and their opponents’ strengths. Just getting beyond that impasse is a good thing. This is related to the famous johari window – https://www.mindtools.com/CommSkll/JohariWindow.htm and appreciative inquiry –
https://appreciativeinquiry.case.edu/intro/whatisai.cfm. I also think it’s related to the wisdom described in James 3:17-18.